Guard for street-railway cars



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

1?. W. WOOD & J. FOWLER. GUARD FOR STREET RAILWAY CARS.

Patented Jan. 27,1891.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. P. W. WOOD & J. FOWLER.

GUARDFOR STREET RAILWAY CARS. No. 445,236. Patented Jan. 27, 1891.

w w mm and:

rrn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED \V. *OOD AND JOHN FOlVLER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

GUARD FOR STREET-RAILWAY CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,236, dated January 27, 1891.

Application filed July 16,1890. Serial No. 358,999. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRED W. \VOOD and JOHN FOWLER, citizens of the United States, residing at the city of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Augeles, in the State of California, have jointly invented a new and useful Fender or Guard for Street-Railway Cars, especially cable-railway cars or dummies, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in fenders or guards as applied to street cars or dummies; and the objects of our invention are to provide a cheap, light, easily-adjustable, and to a certain extent automaticallyadjustable guard or fender to be attached to street cars or dummies for the prevention of accidents to persons who may from any cause be so placed as to be in danger of being run over by such cars or dummies, and also to prevent any obstruction which may be upon the track from passing under the said cars or dummies, our invention being designed to throw such obstruction otf the track. \Ve attain these objects by the mechanism illus trated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is an end view of a cable dummy with our guard or fender attached. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. Fig. 3 is a side View of the same. Fig. 4 is a side view of one of the hinged brackets which support our fender or guard, and which form part of it. The dotted lines show the bracket raised up to a horizontal position, showing that our guard or fender has great vertical play or motion. Fig. 5 is a horizontal end View of the same bracket, showing the small wings or projecting portions of the said bracket, to which are fastened the bars or cross-pieces forming part of our guard. This view also shows the rod E, which forms the pin on which the brackets C D hinge, and which said rod E passes through all the brackets O D on one side of the center of the car ordummy that is, all the brackets on one section of our fender.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the different drawings.

A is the draw-head of the car or dummy.

B is the end piece of the dummy or car, to which is attached our fender or guard by the hinged brackets O D. These hinged brackets are composed of two parts 0 and D, the upper part 0 being bolted to the end piece B of the car or dummy and the other partD being inserted into a suitable recess in the part 0 and hinged thereto by the rod E, which passes through all the brackets on one side of the center of the dummy or car or drawhead A. The parts D of these hinged brackets are provided on their upper edges with suitable wings or projecting lugs F, which are provided with holes through which are passed the rivets or bolts which secure the horizontal cross-bars or slats G to the part D of the hinged brackets C D. The slats or horizontal cross-bars G are made only one-half as long as the fender is to be wide. The outside rail or frame H of the fender is made of pipe or iron rods screwed into Ts I, the parts D of the hinged brackets being alsoscrewed into the same Ts, thus forminga light rigid frame, upon which are placed the slats or cross-bars G, preferably of half-round or fiat iron, secured by being riveted to the wings or projecting lugs F of the brackets D. At the center J the two pieces of the outside rail or frame H are brought nearly together. A long coupling or sleeve K is screwed onto one and bored out, so that the end of the other piece of the frame H can entereasilyand play back and forth. This permits the whole fender being raised or lowered as far as the 0011- struction of the hinged brackets C D will admit. The two halves of the fender lifting vertically will tend to diverge from each other. This is allowed for by the play of one piece of the rail H in the coupling or sleeve K at the center J. The coupling K is shown in section in Fig. 1. On the inner sides of the two brackets on each side of and nearest the draw-head A are riveted two small brackets L, the lower ends of which are provided with holes through which passes the spindle of the rubber tired or surfaced wheel M. The spindle of this wheel M is made long enough to allow for the divergence of the two sides of the fender when being lifted vertically, and the wheel M is set so as to run a little lower than the outside rail or frame H of the fender. \Vhen the car or dummy passes over a change in grade, which would otherwise throw the rail H of the fender down onto the track, the wheel M will strike the slot-rail of a cable road or high part of a surface-track and lift the whole fender on the hinged brackets until the Whole car or dummy has gotten past the change in grade. A stay-chain can be fastened to any part of the rail H and to the dash-board of the car or dummy, and the trainmen can adjust the height of the fender to the necessities of the road.

On some unpaved streets in muddy Weather a guard or fender cannot be operated within several inches of the track, while in fine weather or on the paved portion of the streets it can be put Within two inches of the track. Our fender is intended to meet this difficulty.

Sometimes in rainy or snowy seasons at certain places on a road the fender would have to be removed to prevent it from being broken by the accumulation of mud and snow through which the cars may have to work for a short said fender or guard being made in two parts joined together with thesleeve or coupling K and provided with the long spindled adjusting-wheel M, the whole guard being adapted to be placed on a car or dummy whose front is not straight and to conform closely to the angle of said car-front, and at the same time be capable of being lifted vertically to clear obstructions or adjust itself to the varying grades, all substantially as set forth in the drawings and specification.

2. A fender or guard for street-cars, constructed in two parts and adapted to swing vertically and connected together by a sliding joint or sleeve K, as set forth.

3. The streetcar guard or fender described, constructed in two parts, each comprising brackets C D and bars G and mounted upon axes arranged at an angle to each other, as set forth.

4. The combination, with the divergently swinging sections of the guard, of the long spindled rubber-faced adjusting-wheel M, substantially as set forth.

FRED W. WOOD. JOHN FOWLER. \Vitnesses:

EDGAR E. HEFEBORS, GEO. E. PRATT. 

